Western Tai Chi

When Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) murders a man on a whim, Sheriff John
T. Chance (John Wayne) arrests him and puts him in small Texas town's
jail. The problem is that the U.S. Marshall is a week away from taking
Burdette off his hands, and Burdette's brother, Nathan (John Russell),
won't see his brother put away. Complicating the situation even
further, Burdette is rich enough to hire a score of thugs, and the only
support that Chance has is from a drunk, Dude (Dean Martin), and an
elderly crippled man, Stumpy (Walter Brennan).

Rio Bravo is a sprawling pressure cooker. For anyone not used to the
pacing of older films, this is not the best place to begin. Uninitiated
audiences are likely to find it boring--the plot is relatively simple,
and they would likely have a difficult time remaining with Rio Bravo
for its 2 hour and 21 minute running time. It's best to wait until one
is acclimated to this kind of pacing, so as not to spoil the
experience. The film is well worth it.

John Wayne was an enthralling paradox, and maybe no film better
demonstrates why than Rio Bravo. He had almost delicate "pretty boy"
looks and a graceful gait that were an odd contrast to his hulking
height and status as the "action hero" of his day. He speaks little,
and doesn't need to, although he is the star and thus the center of
attention. He tends to have an odd smirk on his face. Wayne's
performance here interestingly parallels the pacing and tenor of the
film--that's not something that one sees very often, or at least it's
not something that's very easy to make conspicuous.

And he's not the only charismatic cast member. Dean Martin, Ricky
Nelson, Walter Brennan and Angie Dickinson are equally captivating.
Even when the full blow-out action sequence begins (and that's not
until about two hours into the film, although there are a few great
shorter action scenes before that), the focus here is still on the
interrelationships between these characters, with Brennan the
continually funny comic foil, Nelson the suave, skilled youngster,
Martin the complex and troubled but likable complement to Wayne, and
Dickinson as the sexy, forward and clever love interest.

Director Howard Hawks seems to do everything right. He guides
cinematographer Russell Harlan in capturing subtly beautiful
scenery--like the mountains in the distance over the tops of some
buildings, and a great sunrise shot--and asks for an atmospheric score
(such as the repeated playing of Malaguena by a band in the background)
that shows that plot points weren't the only element of the film that
influenced John Carpenter (who partially based his Assault on Precinct
13 (1976) on this film). But most intriguing is probably Hawks'
staging/blocking. You could easily make a study of just that aspect of
the film. The characters are always placed in interesting places in the
frame, and they're constantly moving in interesting ways throughout the
small collection of buildings and streets that make up the town. There
is almost a kind of performance art aspect to it. Wayne, for instance,
repeatedly touches base at the jail, then picks up his rifle, circles
around to the hotel and back, almost as if he's doing some kind of
western Tai Chi.

Rio Bravo is nothing if not understated, and as such, it may take some
adjustments from modern, especially younger, viewers. But it's a gem of
a film, and worth watching and studying.

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71 out of 93 people found the following review useful:

Hawks' last masterpiece

Disregarded at the time of its release, and still underrated by many
critics, Rio Bavo is finally coming into its own as a masterpiece. One
reason that it has been underrated is that,it does not seem a typical
western for the fifties. Most of the great westerns of the period were
darker and moodier. Witness for example, the great films of Boetticher and
Anthony Mann, or-the supreme example-The Searchers.Others were 'revisionist'
and often sought to convey a socially conscious "teaching'- High Noon is the
paradigm here.
In contrast, Rio Bravo is unashamedly reactionary. Hawks actually
claimed to have made the film as a reply to High Noon..In addition, there
are very few pyschological or moral ambiguities here. Instead, we get a
classic Hawksian scenario, also found in Only Angels Have Wings and To Have
and Have Not. . in which a groups of misfits and outsiders bands together to
defeat evil. Here we have John Wayne- offering a performance of
considerable subtlety and self knowledge- as the valiant, yet limited,
patriarchal hero, John T. Chance. To save the day, he calls on a cast of
standard Western characters:The old-timer( Brennan), the reformed drunk(
Martin), The "kid'( Nelson), and the "hooker with a heart of gold(
Dickinson).Thanks to Hawks' assured, efficient, direction,All of these
actors transcend the stereotypes usually associated with such characters to
deliver fine performances which are simultaneously "realistic' and
archtypal. Particularly worthy of notice is Dean Martin. John Carpenter once
claimed that the scene of Martin's "redemption" was the greatest moment in
all of cinema. That may be an exaggeration, but Carpenter has a point. It is
both moving and unforgettable.In short, Rio Bravo is a triumph for Howard
Hawks and his seemingly artless art.

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46 out of 56 people found the following review useful:

A beautifully controlled Western with a great score

For many, Hawks' 'Rio Bravo' is the perfect Western... For me it is the
antithesis of 'High Noon,' and the clearest exposition of Hawks'
philosophy of professionalism... His tough lawman solves his own
problem without going out looking for help... So he welcomes volunteers
and in fact depends on them... What is more, he wins by displaying
superior skills and quicker wits...

The survivors in Hawks' philosophy are the ones who conduct themselves
with the greatest degree of coolness and discipline... It is not
difficult to appreciate why Hawks has used substantially the 'Rio
Bravo' plot, with only minor variations in both his subsequent
Westerns, 'El Dorado' and 'Rio Lobo.'

In Fred Zinneman's 'High Noon,' Gary Cooper struggles to round up a
posse that might help him deal with four desperadoes arriving on a noon
train to kill him... In "Rio Bravo," John Wayne is faced with a similar
situation but takes on the forces of evil in the shape of a gang of
local tyrants...

Wayne always makes us feel that somehow he'll cope... So when the wagon
master Ward Bond asks him if he wants to use any of his men as deputies
in fighting Burdette's men, he turns down the offer... Wayne, holding a
brutish prisoner Joe Burdette (Claude Akins) on a murder charge, waits
for the U.S. marshal to take charge of him... But the prisoner's
powerful brother Nathan (John Russell) wants him free and is determined
to release him by any method possible...

The obvious method is the traditional onehired gunmenand, in effect,
the sheriff becomes a prisoner himself, in his own town But in this
instance the lawman is not absolutely without help... The two deputies
are a semi-crippled veteran (Walter Brennan) and a pretty hopeless
drunk with a past 'fast' reputation (Dean Martin).

But the whole point about this cleverly conceived movie is that this
unlikely trio do in fact have something to offer when the cards are
dealt... Like the sheriff, they're professional people, and what Hawks
seems to be saying is that whatever the odds, such people will always
have the courage, and the deeds... This is demonstrated in one inspired
sequence which has become a classic: Dean Martin  drying out and eager
to win back his self-respect  tells Chance that he wants to be the one
who chase the killer into a saloon, and that Chance should assume the
less dangerous role of backing him up from the back door...

'Rio Bravo' is a beautifully controlled film... John Wayne, who
re-created and heightened the mythology of the West, is at his best...

John Ford imitates Howard Hawks' tendency for having his male
characters never back down from a fight even when it means they are
initiating the fight themselves... In Rio Bravo's famous wordless
opening, villain Claude Akins throws a silver dollar into a spittoon,
daring Dude, so desperate for a drink, to humiliate himself, and get
the coin... Hawks' clever camera emphasizes how far beneath the
standards Dude has fallen... Now Wayne is ready to confront Akins...

The same scene in Ford's 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.' Lee Marvin
trips unarmed James Stewart as he carries a steak dinner to Wayne in
the restaurant where he works... He stumbles and the steak falls to the
ground... Stewart has been obviously humiliated... Suddenly Wayne
enters the frame, and orders Valance to peak up 'his' steak, revealing
his gun belt as he faces him... He is ready for the showdown...

In 'Rio Bravo,' Hawks' men win out primarily because they fight
together... But Hawks helps them by having the outlaws mistakenly play
a Mexican tune called 'cutthroat,' a song which Santa Anna tried to
intimidate the Texans under siege in the Alamo... As the music plays,
we see Dude putting down his glass untouched... He observes that his
hands no longer shake...

In Hawks' 'Rio Bravo' there is tenderness, and humor... In Hawks' film,
a man is defined by how well he relates to women, how well he handles
pressure and how he reacts to danger... Angie Dickinson playing the
gambling gal, enriches the mixture with a nicely judged performance...

'Rio Bravo' is an action Western, which captures a legendary West that
fits the legendary talents of Wayne and Hawks... But what makes the
film so special is the relationship between the individual
characters... It is a traditional, straightforward Western,
good-humored and exciting, rich in original touches...

The best moment of the film when Martin and Nelson join each other for
some singing and guitar picking, and Walter Brennan joins in with his
harmonica and his scratchy voice... The film has a terrific score by
one of the great film composers Dimitri Tiomkin...

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40 out of 48 people found the following review useful:

The real bullettime

It says much about current cinema that this vintage slice of Hollywood is
now considered too long and too slow by the modern generation of movie
goers. Howard Hawks labours to create setting, mood and pace introducing
genuine characters are colourful for the flaws they have as their positive
points presenting heroes one can empathise with, people with three
dimensions, not thin caricatures that popular many of today's
movies.

No character empathises this more than Dean Martin's broken down drunk
Dude.
Nicknamed "Borachon" by the Mexicans (Borachon is Spanish for "Drunkard")
Dude battles with the demons that drove him to drink as he desperately
tried
not to let down Sheriff Chance, John Wayne, who believes in him more than
he
believes in himself. Dude's pouring back of a glass of bourbon into the
bottle is one of the most life affirming scenes ever committed to
film.

Wayne never really does anything other than play John Wayne and Hawks
spins
on this playing with the ethos of the man. The same steadfast values that
mean Wayne's Sheriff John T. Chance will not release the prisoner Joe
Burdette back to his murderous gang leave him stiff and awkward in front
of
Angie Dickinson's love interest "Feathers" creating perhaps the
quintessential John Wayne movie in which the Jules Furthman and Leigh
Brackett's screenplay explores the depths of the ideals that Wayne stands
for. This is a movie about not just about redemption, but about the
reasons
for a tough redemption in a World in which collapse and lawlessness are
easier options.

And when Dude pours his Bourbon back, affirming that even though he cannot
be the man he was but he can still be a good man, you will not be wishing
it
was film in bullettime.

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45 out of 63 people found the following review useful:

"You Can Do Just About Anything You Want To, Chance."

Howard Hawks initially wanted to reunite John Wayne and Montgomery
Clift who had worked so well together in Red River in his second film
with Wayne. Clift however was at the beginning of the slide that would
ultimately destroy him in seven years and said no. It was then that
Dean Martin was cast as John Wayne's alcoholic deputy.

By the way if Clift had done the part it would have reunited him with
Walter Brennan also who is playing a very similar part to the one he
did in Red River in relation to Wayne.

In the wordless beginning of Rio Bravo, Wayne while going into the town
saloon to fetch Dino, witnesses a cold blooded killing perpetrated by
Claude Akins. Akins is the no good brother of rich rancher John Russell
who keeps trying to spring Akins from Wayne's jail. He also brings in
some hired guns who bottle the town up.

Both Howard Hawks and John Wayne absolutely hated High Noon and made
Rio Bravo as their answer to it. This sheriff doesn't go around begging
for help from the townspeople he's sworn to protect. He's supposed to
be good enough to handle the job himself with some help from only a few
good men.

Dean Martin said that the Rio Bravo role for him was one of the most
difficult. At that time he was playing a drunk on stage and was not yet
into the substance abuse problems that beset him later on. But turns in
a stellar performance.

This film marked the farewell feature film performance of Ward Bond who
took some time from his Wagon Train TV series to play the small role of
a Wayne friend who offers to help and gets killed for his trouble.
Fitting it should be in the starring film of his best friend John
Wayne.

The only bad note in Rio Bravo is that of Ricky Nelson who is too much
the nice kid from Ozzie and Harriet to suggest being a young gun. But
Rio Bravo marked the first of many films Wayne used a current teenage
idol to insure box office. Later on Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby
Vinton all the way down to Ron Howard in The Shootist brought a younger
audience in for the Duke.

James Caan who played the Ricky Nelson part in El Dorado was much
superior to Nelson. Then again, Caan is an actor. But I will say that
Dean and Ricky sung real pretty.

When you hear Dean singing My Rifle, Pony, and Me in the jailhouse, you
might recognize the same melody from Red River as Settle Down. Dimitri
Tiomkin wrote it and Dean recorded it as well as the title song for
Capitol records. At Capitol Dino did mostly ersatz Italian ballads, it
was what he was identified with. When he switched to Reprise, Dino
started doing far more country and western and it really starts with
the songs he did in Rio Bravo.

Rio Bravo is a leisurely paced western, probably one of the slowest
John Wayne ever did. But Howard Hawks created some characters and a
story that hold the interest through out.

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41 out of 61 people found the following review useful:

This movie has all the elements of the quintessential Western.

The story itself is a composite of all the elements needed to make a great
Western: good guys in white hats, bad guys in black hats, townspeople
content to stand aside and to let the battle be fought between the outlaws
and the man with the tin star, a beautiful woman to distract the hero and
finally help him when the chips are down.

The main stars, John Wayne, Dean Martin, and Angie Dickinson all turn in
the
top-notch performances one would expect from them, and Rick Nelson is a
very
pleasant surprise as Colorado. It's two others that separate this movie
from other Westerns, though.

Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales, as Carlos the hotel-keeper, is a breath of fresh
air. His interplay with John Wayne's John T. Chance adds a touch of human
reality to the movie that sets it apart.

Walter Brennan in his role as Stumpy, however, is the glue that holds the
whole thing together and makes it work. His constant griping under his
breath, his goading of Wayne, his dialogue with the prisoner and his
general
comic relief set Rio Bravo apart from any other Western and put it in a
class of its own. Keenan Wynn in Eldorado doesn't even come
close.

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34 out of 49 people found the following review useful:

The traditional western that all others are judged by

It is my pleasure to make comments on Rio Bravo, considering all the
hype that already has been written about it. True, it is not socially
redeeming, nor does it make a political statement, it's just darn fun,
i.e. entertaining. What's wrong with that? I couldn't care less if it
is a redemption by Hawks for "High Noon"! I know one thing is for
certain, when you watch John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan, and
the rest of the cast, you can tell that they had a really good time
making the film, this, I believe is plain to see. Add a top notch
script and very fine acting, good scenery, a love angle, and enough
action to satisfy, and it adds up to a classic movie no matter how you
judge it. 10 for 10.

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15 out of 22 people found the following review useful:

Perfection

I hesitate in calling it the "greatest western of all time", as so many
defining elements of the genre are lacking (for one thing, all the
action takes place within city limits  so much for horse riding across
western landscapes). More importantly, it transcends genre barriers and
stands in a world of its own. A world of pure and simple correspondence
between ends and means of the film-making process, that is, of classic
perfection.

As many have noted, the starting point is simple: a sheriff needs to
keep an outlaw in custody, other outlaws try to spring him. The ease
and grace with which Hawks creates a two-hour long narrative from this,
both elaborate and always radiantly clear, at the same time fast-paced
and seemingly immobile, would be overwhelming if the result were not of
such classic evidence.

This he does by perfectly balancing the characters, whose common point
is the need for redemption or fulfillment, whether they are too old
(Stumpy), too weak (Dude), too young (Colorado) or even too desirable
(Feathers). Sheriff Chance is both unwilling to relate to them and
unable to do without them  thus conferring a constant ambiguity to his
behavior, balancing between pardon and anger, an ambiguity instantly
redeemed by the righteousness and the physical grace with which he
moves among them  "Sorry don't get it done, Dude" must be my favorite
quote from any movie.

The same balance can be found between the few action scenes and the
more gentle episodes. The action is scarce, but then all the more
intense as it comes both inevitably and at unexpected moments. It is
climactic and beautifully shot and choreographed. There are few
gunshots (excepting the ending), but always to the point (if not always
on target). To illustrate this, let us examine the episode in which
Dude shoots an outlaw he and Chance are pursuing. He is unsure of
whether he has hit him: this uncertainty is at once transmitted to his
whole character, and to a characteristically sceptical as well as
sympathetic Chance. In this sense, not a shot is wasted, as they define
so powerfully the essence of characters and relations between them. The
same could be said of young Colorado's ascension, materialized through
his gun fighting ability. This is a classic feature of westerns,
brought to unseen heights by Hawks.

These action scenes contrast beautifully with three other kind of
scenes: the romantic seduction scenes in which Angie Dickinson shines;
the comedy scenes taking place in the hotel, and the alternately
anguishing and joyful scenes in the prison  culminating, as a reviewer
has noted, in the songs shared by Dude, Stumpy, Colorado and an
appreciative and silent Chance, a blissful moment in which time, the
plot, the suspense are cast aside and all is left is an exceptional
complicity between the characters, the director and the spectator.

Many defects can be found here and there, yet as a whole, the movie is
perfect, as it creates with seemingly effortless grace a world 
complete with strong and weak characters, a sense of time and space,
right and wrong, necessity and chance (not a meaningless name for
Wayne's character)  we at once recognize and love as our own.

Excellent, Character Led Western

I had to comment on this as the only other comment said it was too long
and too dull. I recorded it for my father, who is a western fan, and
watched it with him and my wife.

The movie has charismatic performances from Wayne and especially Walter
Brennan as the old deputy. He made us laugh out loud several times.
True it isn't all action, but more about characters. Ricky Nelson did
okay, no Oscars here but a competent enough piece of acting as a young,
brash cowboy.

Angie Dickinson plays the love interest and boy was she gorgeous in
those days! OK so the Duke was cracking on a bit for the young and
lovely Angie to fall in love with him, but there wasn't much else in the
town to fancy and some women like older men!

Very enjoyable Western. I gave it 8/10.

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22 out of 37 people found the following review useful:

Brilliant cast in brilliant western

What a brilliant western! I was caught in my couch for more than two hours
as John Wayne (Sheriff John T. Chance), Dean Martin (Dude), Ricky Nelson
(Colorado) and Walter Brennan (Stumpy) try to keep a crook in jail for a
week until the US Marshall arrives in town. The bad guy in question has
contacts (his brother) and they will do what they can to set him
free.

Dean Martin was second to none playing a deputy with drinking problems. He
had a lot talent. John Wayne wasn't that bad either. Undoubtly something
special about him, although I can't put my finger exactly on what it might
be. Personally I don't think he's a great actor, but there is this special
cool around him.

Anyway, if you haven't seen this movie I urge you to do. It takes a while
for it to sort of take off but it's worth waiting for. Great acting and an
interesting plot. It has everything a great western should have.
Recommended!